Trolley mechanism.



PATENTED NOV. 3, 1903.

C. I. EARLL.

TROLLEY MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 20, 1901.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

N0 MODEL.

INVENTOR WITNESSES:

Tm: uonms PETERS m, vnotaumo WASNINGYON. n. c,

PATENTED NOV. 3, 1903,

0. I. EARLL'.

TROLLEY MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 20, 1901.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

no MODEL.

INVENTOR WITNESSES:

Patented November 3, 1903.

UNITED STATES PATENT OF ICE.

' CHARLESI. EARLL, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

. TROLLEY MECHANISM.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 743,153, dated November 3, 1903. Application filed fieptemher 20, 1901. Serial No.75.796. (No model-) To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, CHARLES I. EARLL, a

citizen of the United States of America, and

for electric railways, and has for its object to produce a mechanism of this class that shall be simple and effective in its construction and operation and one which is especially adapted to prevent accidents and damage when the trolley leaves the overhead conductor or wire. a

My invention consists in providing a windingdrum mechanism mounted within the trolley-pole-supporting bracket, in mounting a guide-sheave near the end of the trolley-' pole, said winding drum mechanism and sheave being so arranged that they are adapted to receive the trolley-rope to take up the slack during the ordinary rise and fall of the trolley and to check the rise of the trolley when it has left the wire and so arranged that that portion of the trolley-rope between the guide-sheave and winding-drum lies-inside of the tubular trolley-pole.

My invention consists, further, in other novel features and constructions to be hereinafter more fully explained and described.

In the drawings accompanying and forming part of this specification, Figure 1 is a vertical section on line a a of Fig. 2. is a section on line b b of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a section on line 0 c of Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a section on line 01 d of Fig. 3.

The reference characters are used in the same sense throughout the specification and drawings.

Numeral 1 represents the base of the trol- Icy-stand, adapted to be secured to the roof of the car in any approved manner. 2 represents a vertical stud secured to said base, on which the horizontally-swinging member or swivel-bracket 3 is pivotally mounted. 4: represents an arm projecting from said swiveled bracket, said arm being preferably made of a piece of gas'pipe secured in the hub 5.

6 represents a cross-head adapted to slide on the arm 4 against the action of a spring Fig. 2'

7, said spring having a seat 8 at its other end on the said swivel-bracket.

9 represents a vertical-swinging member mounted on the horizontal shaft 10 in the swivel-bracket adapted to receive the lower end of the trolley-pole. In this vertical-swinging member is formed the cylindrical chamber 11, in which is mounted thedrum 12, together with the winding and checking mechanism, to be hereinafter described.

13 is a lug on the vertically-swinging member 9, adapted to receive the pin 14.

15 represents the links adapted to connect the member 9 with the cross-head 6, whereby the trolley-pole is pressed upward by the ac tion of the spring 7.

16 is a trolley-pole of ordinary construction adapted to be received into the socket 17. At the upper end of the trolleypole' is secured the member 18, usually called the harp, for supporting the trolley-wheel19 and the guide-sheave 20. The trolley-harp 18 is preferably formed with a socket at its lower end adapted to be secured to the end of the trolley-pole and has two flanges 31, adapted to receive the bearings for the trolley-wheel and guide-sheave, respectively. It is also provided with a transverse web 32, located between the trolley-wheel and the guide-sheave and connecting the vertical flanges. transverse web preferably extends out to or beyond a line tangent to the trolley-wheel and guide-sheave, and its purpose is, in addition to giving strength to the flanges of the harp, to prevent the trolley-rope from coming in contact with the trolley-wheel and at the same time to prevent in a large measure rain or snow from coming into the interior of the hollow trolley-pole. The guide-sheave 20 is so arranged that the trolley-rope 21, which passes over it, leads down through the center of the trolley-pole onto the winding-drum 12.

22 is a wire rope or cable of smaller diameter than the trolley-rope 21, adapted to be wound upon the drum 12.

23 represents a hook or other suitable device adapted to connect the trolley-rope 21 with the wire cable 22. r

24 represents a ring placed in the upper end of the trolley-pole for the purpose of forming a contracted orifice through which the trol- This ley-rope has to pass, the diameter of said orifice being such as to prevent the connection 23 from passing through it.

Formed in the cylindrical chamber 11 of the verticallyswinging member 9 is the ratchet 25, and mounted on the drum 12 is the centrifugally-controlled pawl 26, adapted to engage the ratchet-teeth when the drum is suddenlyjerked or its speed exceeds a predetermined rate.

27 is a cap or closure for the open end of the chamber 11.

28 is a shaft on which the drum 12 is journaled.

29 is a hub made integrally with the cap 27 and extending into theinterior of the drum 12.

30 is a spiral spring secured at its outer end to the drum 12 and at its inner end to the hub 29 of the cap 27. The spring 30 acts at all times to wind up the cable 22, and thereby takes up the slack in the trolley-rope 21 as the trolley rises and falls.

The end of the trolley-rope 21 is secured in any convenient manner to the end of the car during the ordinary running of the car.

The operation of the device is as follows:

' The action of the spring 7 against the crosshead 6 tends at all times to press the trolleywheel upward against the conducting-wire. As the trolley rises the trolley-rope 21 is pulled out by virtue of its connections with the end of the car, and as the pole rises and falls the slack is taken up by means of the spring 30 and drum 12. When the trolley jumps the wire, the sudden jerk upon the trolley-rope causes the centrifugally-controlled pawl 26 to engage the ratchet 25 and check the further rise of the trolley. If from any cause the wire cable 22 or spring 30 should break, the trolley-rope 21 would be prevented from becoming detached from the pole,because of the contracted orifice 24. The trolley-rope 21 is preferably made of braided cotton rope, such as is in common use for this purpose, while the cable 22 is preferably made of steel-wire rope, which may be of much smaller diameterfor requisite strength, thereby requiring a much smaller drum of sufficient capacity to be used. At the same time it would be objectionable to use wire cable or rope of conducting material for that part of the flexible connection or trolley-rope which is outside of the trolleypole, as this would conduct the current from the trolley-pole to anything with which the rope came in contact.

By virture of my improved construction the winding-drum and spring mechanism, together with the cable which winds upon the drum, are completely protected from dust and dirt and from rain. The chamber 11 may, in fact, be partially filled with oil, thereby insuring much longer life and better action than is the case where such mechanisms are placed in an exposed position, as is the case with the ordinary trolley-catcher secured to the end of a car.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is- 1. In a trolley mechanism for electric railways the combination with a trolley-stand and tubular trolley-pole secured thereto, of a winding-drum mountedin said trolley-stand, a guide-sheave mounted' on said trolley-pole and a flexible connection leading from said winding-drum to said guide-sheave.

2. In a trolley mechanism for electric railways the combination with a trolley-stand and tubular trolley-pole secured thereto, of a winding-drum mounted in said trolley-stand, a guide-sheave mounted on said pole, said guide-sheave and said winding-drum being located so that their peripheries are substantially tangent to the axis of the trolley-pole.

3. In a trolley mechanism for electric railways the combination with a trolley-stand and tubular trolley-pole secured thereto, of a Winding-drum mounted in said trolley-stand, a guide-sheave mounted on said pole, said guide sheave and said winding-drum being located so that the flexible connection between said guide-sheave and said drum leads through the interior of the trolley-pole.

4. In a trolley mechanism the combination with a trolley-stand and a hollow trolley-pole secured thereto, of a winding-drum mounted on said trolley-stand, a guide-sheave mounted on saidv trolley-pole, said winding-drum and said guide-sheave being so located that their common tangent lies inside of said trolicy-pole.

5. In a trolley mechanism the combination withahollow trolley-pole,ofaspring-actuated winding-drum located at its lower end and a guide-sheave at its upper end, said windingdrum and guide-sheave having their common tangent pass through the interior of said hollow trolley-pole.

6. In a trolley mechanism the combination with a hollow trolley-pole pivotally mounted on a trolley-stand, of a winding mechanism mounted near the lower end of said pole, a guide-sheave located at the upper end of said pole, a metallic cable secured to said winding-drum, a non-conducting rope joined to said metallic cable between said windingdrum and guide-sheave.

7. In a trolley mechanism the combination with a hollow trolley-pole pivotally mounted on a trolley-stand, of a winding mechanism mounted near the lower end of said pole, a guide-sheave located at the upper end of said pole, a metallic cable secured to said winding-drum, a non-conducting rope joined to said metallic cable between said windingdrum and guide-sheave, and means for'preventing said non-conducting trolley-rope from becoming detached from the trolley-pole in case of the failure of the metallic cable.

' 8. In a trolley mechanism the combination with a base having a vertical pivot adapted to be secured to the roof of a car, of a horizontally-swinging member journaled on said pivot a vertically-swinging member pivoted to said horizontally swinging member, a spring-actuated drum mounted in said vertically-swinging memberand a pole secured to said vertically-swinging member having its axis substantially tangent to the periphery of said drum.

9. In a trolley mechanism the combination with the base 1 of the swiveled bracket 3, the vertically-swinging member 9, the spring 7, connections between said spring and said vertically-swinging member and the spring-con trolled drum mounted in said vertically-swinging member.

10. In a trolley mechanism the combination with a trolley-stand and mechanism located thereon for taking up the slack of the trolleyrope of a trolley-pole and a harp secured to the end of said pole having upwardly-extendin g flanges adapted to receive the trolley-wheel shaft and downwardly extending flanges adapted to receive a guide-sheave and a trans verse web separating said trolley-wheel from said guide-sheave connecting said flanges.

11. In a trolley mechanism a trolley-harp adapted to be secured to the end of the trolley-pole provided with bearings for the trolley-wheel, a guide-sheave located beneath said trolley-wheel having its periphery substantially tangent to the axis of the trolleypole, said harp having vertical flanges outside of said trolley-wheel and said guide-sheave, and a transverse connecting-web between said wheel and sheave whereby the trolleyrope is protected from making contact with said trolley-wheel.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

CHARLES I. EARLL.

Witnesses:

ELLA TUoH, EDWIN N. WHITFIELD. 

